This invention relates to pneumatic assisted exercise bench that can be used to flex certain portions of a person""s body to strengthen the person""s back, spine, legs, and posture.
A need exists for exercise equipment which can be used by physical therapists, sports trainers and others to correct posture problems, to assist in preventing injuries to the neck and spine and to rehabilitate a neck or spine when an injury has occurred. This equipment needs to be versatile to accommodate persons of different size and persons with different neck or spine problems in need of correction. A need exists for equipment which can be used alone to perform many different exercises including lumbar exercises, thoracic exercises and cervical exercises.
The present invention includes a bench mounted to a base frame. A foot truck is slidably mounted to the bench to secure the feet of the user. A tiltable upper body support is mounted to the base. A first belt is provided for securing the legs of a user to the bench. A second belt is provided for securing the pelvic area of the user to the base. A third belt is connected to a support slidably mounted to the upper body support for mounting in a vertical direction. The third belt is used to secure the user to the upper body support. A first pneumatic cylinder is provided for extending the foot track to a selected forward position. A second pneumatic cylinder is provided for tilting the upper body support to a selected tilt position. A third pneumatic cylinder is provided for forcing a pelvic pad toward the lower back area of a user. A fourth pneumatic cylinder is provided for forcing a seat pad against the user at a selected position adjacent the upper back or neck of a user.